Let us turn to God's Word, directing
you to the portion that we read in the Old Testament, the book
of Micah, the prophet Micah in chapter 5, and taking for our
text the words that we have in the second verse. Micah 5, 2,
But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the
thousands of Judah, Yet out of thee shall he come forth unto
me, that is, to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been
from of old, from everlasting. And addressing the matter of
the Lord Jesus Christ as that one who is born to be the ruler. But thou Bethlehem Ephratah,
though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of
thee shall he come forth unto me, that is, to be ruler in Israel,
whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. Remember what we read in the
New Testament, the familiar words of Matthew chapter 2, where we
read of the wise men coming from the East, seeking out Him who
was the true Messiah that had now appeared. And they come with
that question, where is He that is born King of the Jews? It's the same person, of course,
that the prophet is speaking of here. in the words of our
text and you will have observed in that reading there is a specific
reference to the scripture when Herod gathers the chief
priests, the scribes, the rulers together and demands where Christ
should be born They said unto him in Bethlehem of Judea, For
thus it is written by the prophet, And thou, Bethlehem, in the land
of Judah, art not the least among the princes of Judah. For out
of thee shall come a governor that shall rule my people Israel. Bethlehem. It was, of course,
the place where David was born, as we see in 1 Samuel chapter
16. But not only the place where
David the king was born, but where David's greater son, the
Lord Jesus Christ, also would appear in the fullness of the
time. So I want us to consider for
our text these words here in Micah 5 and verse 2. But before we come to the text
itself to consider something of the context, the historical
setting of the book. We see in the opening verses
that Micah, who was a contemporary with Isaiah, the prophet, is
very much speaking of those judgments that God would visit upon his
ancient people. There in chapter 1, the word
of the Lord that came to Micah, the Morestites, in the days of
Jotham, Ahaz, and Hazikiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning
Samaria, which was the capital of the northern kingdom Israel,
and Jerusalem, the capital of the southern kingdom of Judah. Here all ye people hearken, O
earth, and all that therein is, And let the Lord God be witness
against you, the Lord, from His holy temple. For behold, the
Lord cometh forth out of His place, and will come down, and
tread upon the high places of the earth. And the mountains
shall be molten unto Him, and the valleys shall be cleft as
wax before the fire, and as the waters that are poured down a
steep place. Why is God visiting the earth?
We're told in verse 5, For the transgression of Jacob is all
this, and for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the
transgression of Jacob? Is it not Samaria? And what are
the high places of Judah? Are they not Jerusalem? The Prophet then is speaking
of God as one who was about to visit terrible judgments upon
those two kingdoms. And it so happened that the armies
of the Assyrians did come under Sennacherib and they completely
overran that northern kingdom. And those who were the descendants
of the ten tribes were scattered to the four winds. And the Assyrians
even came to the very gates of Jerusalem in the reign of King
Hezekiah although God was pleased to grant a deliverance to Judah
at that point but then subsequently the Babylonians came and when
the Babylonians who followed the Assyrians came they did overrun
Judah also and Jerusalem fell and the people were taken away
into exile to spend some 70 years in captivity in Babylon. And this is the historical context
in which the prophet is speaking and we see something of the great
boldness of the prophet as he addresses these kingdoms. Look at the language in chapter
3. Verse 8, truly, he says, I am
full of power by the Spirit of the Lord and of judgment and
of might to declare unto Jacob his transgression and to Israel
his sin. Hear this, I pray you, ye heads
of the house of Jacob and princes of the house of Israel, that
have all judgment and pervert all equity. They build up Zion
with blood and Jerusalem with iniquity. He is born to speak
against the sins of these kingdoms that were going to be visited
by God in the way of dreadful judgments. And he speaks of the
hypocrisy and the presumption of those who were their leaders.
See how he continues there in that third chapter at verse 11. the heads thereof judge for reward,
the princes thereof teach for hire, the prophets thereof divine
for money. Yet will they lean upon the Lord
and say, is not the Lord among us? Non-evil can come upon us. They had a false faith, a false
confidence. They thought all would be well.
All the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord. Are these
is what they would say. God will never destroy us. How
foolish they were. What presumption they were guilty
of. And then we come to chapter 4
and there's a remarkable change. We read of those judgments in
chapter 3 and then the beginning of chapter 4, but in the last
days. It shall come to pass that the
mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in
the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the
hills, and people shall flow unto it. And many nations shall
come and say, Come and let us go up to the mountain of the
Lord and to the house of the God of Jacob. And he will teach
us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths, for the law shall
go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem."
Although God would judge them, destroying the northern kingdom
of Israel, scattering those tribes, visiting judgment upon the southern
kingdom, taking them into exile, yet there would be a restoration,
they would return, and the temple of the Lord would be built. But
of course, the language there at the beginning of chapter 40
speaking of something far greater than the restoration of the Jews.
Ultimately, we're brought to consider the Lord Jesus Christ
himself as that one who is really at the center of all this prophecy. And isn't that what we are to
recognize when we see that reference there in chapter 4, at the opening
of that chapter, to the last days. It shall come to pass in
the last days. What are the last days? Well,
when these prophets in the Old Testament speak of the last days,
they're speaking of the gospel day. They're speaking of the
great day of grace that follows the coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Think of the language that we
have in 2 Corinthians 6. I have heard thee in a time accepted,
in the day of salvation have I succored thee. Behold, now
is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation,
the last days. That is the great day of salvation. All the promises of God ultimately
center in Christ. They're all yea and amen in the
Lord Jesus Christ. And so we come to the words that
we have before us for our text tonight. But thou Bethlehem Ephratah,
though thou be little among the thousands of Judah yet out of
thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel
whose goings forth have been from of old from everlasting. It's interesting this chapter
because it does go on subsequently to speak somewhat of the Assyrian. There in in verse 5, this man. And again, really, this man who
is the peace is the Lord Jesus Christ. But look at the historical
context. There's an historical interpretation that is the groundwork,
really, of our spiritual interpretation. We're not to ignore the context
in which God is first giving His Word, but we're not to leave
it there. We're to see how applicable it is to the day of grace. All these things happened unto
them for examples and they are written for our learning upon
whom the ends of the world, upon whom the last days are come. What does it say at verse 5?
This man shall be the peace when the Assyrians shall come into
our land and when he shall tread in our palaces Then shall we
rise against him seven shepherds and eight principal men and they
shall waste the land of Assyria with the sword and the land of
Nimrod in the entrances thereof. Thus shall he deliver us from
the Assyrian when he cometh into our land and when he treadeth
within our borders. Now as I said just now it was
the Assyrians that came and overran the northern kingdom of Israel
with its capital at Samaria and they came further south and they
came into the little kingdom of Judah under Sennacherib and
they arrived at the very gates of Jerusalem and it seemed that
Judah would also fall. And we have the historic account
of these things in the days of King Hezekiah. And we have a
threefold account. We find it in Kings and in Chronicles. But we also read something of
it in the book of the prophet Isaiah. As I say, Isaiah was
contemporary with this prophet Micah. They were ministering
at exactly the same time. And look at the language that
we find back in Isaiah. And there in Isaiah chapter 37
and verse verse 32 and the following verses it says at verse 32 out of Jerusalem
shall go forth a remnant and they that escape out of Manzion
the seal of the Lord of hosts shall do this Therefore, thus
saith the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, he shall not
come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before
it with shields, nor cast a bank against it. By the way that he
came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this
city, saith the Lord. For I will defend this city,
to save it for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake,
Then the angel of the Lord went forth and smote in the camp of
the Assyrians a hundred and four scored and five thousand. And
when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all
dead corpses. So Sennacherib king of Assyria
departed and went and returned and dwelt at Nineveh. And we're told how, as he was
worshipping in the house of Nisroch, his god Adramelech, and Charieza,
his son, smote him with the sword and escaped into the land of
Armenia, and Esarhaddon, his son, reigned in his stead. And
that's, it's the same event that is being spoken of by Micah here
in this fifth chapter. and verses 5 and 6. But it has a far richer fulfillment,
really the chapter is speaking of Christ. And how Christ is
the one who overcomes all of his enemies. How Christ has vanquished
sin and Satan, and all the powers of darkness. That's what's really
being spoken of in terms of the history of the people of Israel. What do we read of here? We have
this mention of the remnant. Look at verse 7. And the remnant
of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a Jew from
the Lord, as the showers upon the grass that tarrieth not for
man, nor waiteth for the sons of men. And the remnant of Jacob
shall be among the Gentiles. Speaking of God's purpose to
call sinners, a multitude of sinners, from among the Gentiles. And who is this one? Well, we
come back to our text, this one who is born. Born in Bethlehem, out of thee
shall he come forth unto me, that is to be ruler in Israel. It is the Lord Jesus Christ who
is the King and He is the King of this little remnant. Oh, what
does God say in the Psalm? Think of the language of Psalm
2. Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Zion. And what
is Zion? Zion is God's Israel, God's spiritual
Israel. Zion is the Church. And how remarkable
the language in that psalm is where we see on the one hand
all the ragings of men who set themselves against this king
and yet also at the same time we see the gracious purpose of
God. Remember the language of Psalm
2, why do the heathen rage? And the people imagine a vain
thing. The kings of the earth set themselves.
The rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against
His anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder and
cast away their cords from us. O the ragings, the ravings of
men! He that sitteth in the heavens
shall laugh. The Lord shall have them in derision.
Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in
his sordid pleasure. Yet have I set my King upon my
holy hill of Zion. Who is this King? It is the Lord
Jesus Christ. God hath put all things under
his feet, and given him to be the head over all things to the
church. which is His body, the fullness
of Him that filleth all in all." Oh, do we really believe this?
The sovereignty of God. And how does God exercise that
absolute sovereignty? All authority is committed into
the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is that One who is King. And
He is King in Zion and all that God is doing through all the
nations of the earth. is to fulfill that great purpose,
that eternal purpose that centers in the person that is being spoken
of here in our text. Well, as we come to look at the
words of the text for a while this evening, let's begin, as
it were, in eternity. I want to say something with
regards to what we have here at the end of the verse, the
eternal sonship of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're in eternity here
at the end of the verse. Look at the language. Concerning
this person, it says, whose goings forth have been from of old,
from everlasting. The margin says, from the days
of eternity. His goings forth have been from
of old, from the days of eternity. What is being spoken of? The
reference here is to the truth of the eternal sonship, the eternal
generation of the Son of God. Christ is that one who is eternally
begotten of the Father. Again, the language that we have
there in that second Psalm, what does God say concerning that
one who is set as king in Zion? He says, Thou art my son. Or this one who is king, you
see, Thou art my son. This day have I begotten thee. What is God's day? God's day
is not any day in time. God's day is eternity. That expression, this day, or
today have I begotten, it doesn't imply a yesterday or a tomorrow. As Luther says, it is always
a present time, it is a today. The Lord Jesus Christ never began
to be born, nor will ever cease to be born. He is ever being
born, in the sense that He is the Eternal Son. the Eternal
Son of the Eternal Father. There is a relationship between
the three persons in the Godhead. God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Father begets, the Son is
begotten, the Spirit proceeds from the Father and from the
Son. And that's what we have here.
At the end of the verse we have a clear statement concerning
the fact, the truth, of the eternal Sonship of the Lord Jesus Christ,
who shall declare His generation. Is not this part of the glory
that belongs unto the Lord Jesus Christ? He is that One who is
the Only Begotten. He is the Only Begotten, the
Eternally Begotten. His eternal generation, this
is His glory. The Word was made flesh, we're
told, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory
as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. That is the glory of the Lord
Jesus Christ, the only begotten of the Father. He is that Word
of God, He is that Wisdom of God who speaks in Proverbs chapter
8 and verse 24, when there were no depths, I was brought forth.
When there were no fountains abounding with water, before
the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth. Oh, it's the same truth, you
see. He's going forth from of old, from the days of eternity. It's the sonship, the eternal
sonship. Now, it is a great favour and blessing to be brought to
saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Because what is it that
we come into an experience of when we're born again by the
Spirit of God, do we not come into that experience of adoption? In that sense God has many sons. When the Apostle speaks in Hebrews
12 of the Church, he refers to it as the great company of the
firstborn. They're all adopted into God's
family and they are so exalted that they're treated as if they're
God's firstborn sons. They have all the right of inheritance.
Oh, it is a great favour, a great blessing to know something of
that spirit of adoption whereby we can cry, Abba, Father. But believers are sons by adoption. But the Lord Jesus Christ is
that one who is the true Son of God. He is the only begotten
of the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the Son of
the Father, in truth and in love. And you know, it's so evident
that the Jews understood the significance of that, his relationship
with the Father. Remember the language that we
have in John chapter 5? When the Lord performs that miracle
at Bethsaida and He gives legs to that man who'd sat those many,
many years waiting for the moving of the waters and could never
arrive in time. Always there was one who was
there before him because he was a poor crippled man. And the
Lord commands him to take up his bed and walk, and he does
so, and it's a Sabbath day. And those Jews, with all their
perversions of the Sabbath day, are quick, so quick, to accuse
the Lord Jesus Christ. And they would kill him. But
what do we read? John 5, 18, it says, the Jews
sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken
the Sabbath day, but said that God was his Father, making himself
equal with God. Or when he says he is the only
begotten of the Father. That's not a son by adoption.
That is to be the true Son of God. They understood, the Jews,
what that implies. It makes him equal with God. And that was the charge, of course,
that they laid against him at the end when they bring him before
Pontius Pilate when the Lord has to endure that terrible trial,
that mockery of a trial. What do they say to the Roman
governor? We have a law. By our law he
ought to die because he made himself the Son of God. He made himself the Son of God.
Oh, it means equality. The Son is not inferior, the
Father is not superior. When we think in terms of the
doctrine of the Trinity, there's nothing of priority or posteriority. Father, Son and Holy Spirit are
co-eternal and they're co-equal. Each is to be worshipped as the
living and the true God. And that's the truth that we
have here concerning this one in our text, who is to be ruler
in Israel, who is going forth as being from of old, from everlasting,
or as the margin says, from the days of eternity. And you know of this doctrine,
this doctrine of Christ's Sonship, His Eternal Sonship, again, the
great Reformer Luther says, this is the highest article of our
faith. This is the ground and chief
article of the Gospel. It's because He is the Eternal
Son of God that He can come and make a sacrifice that will satisfy
all the justice of God. or when he dies for his people.
He does answer perfectly for them, because in his birth, in
his life, in his death, he is never anything less than the
Eternal Son of God, equal with the Father. Think of the language, again,
of the Apostle John. And it's John, of course, who,
in his Gospel and in his Epistles, so clearly sets forth the glories
of the doctrine of Christ. His Gospel is so different to
the first three Gospels, which we call the Synoptic Gospels.
There are great, profound truths revealed in those Gospels, but
when we come to John, it's a much more doctrinal Gospel, and it
sets before us those glories that belong to Christ as that
one who is God, incarnate, God contracted to a span, incomprehensibly
made man. And what does John say? Even
in that little Second epistle, the second epistle of John, in
verse 9, "...whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine
of Christ hath not God," he says. "...he that abideth in the doctrine
of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son." The doctrine of
Christ. Concerns His eternal Sonship. Again, we find something very
similar when John writes in that first epistle, that general epistle. And there in chapter 2 at verse
20 he says, "...whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the
Father, but he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also."
If there is no eternal Son, there is no eternal Father. And I say
again, this is the glory of Christ. the glory as of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth, whose goings forth
have been from of old, from everlasting, but coming now, as it were, from
eternity to time and to the historic event that is being prophesied
here. What do we have in this verse?
Well, it's apparent this is a prophecy of the Incarnation. But thou Bethlehem Ephratah though
thou be little among the thousands of Judah yet out of thee shall
he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel. He must
come forth and of course he comes forth in the fullness of the
time. As I've already pointed out,
we have this Scripture being fulfilled. And we have the fulfillment spoken
of here in Matthew 2 verse 5, thus it is written by the Prophet.
And thou Bethlehem in the land of Judah art not the least among
the princes of Judah for out of thee shall come a governor
that shall rule my people Israel." The scripture is fulfilled. There's
a time for every purpose under heaven. There's a time to be
born. And there was that time that
God himself had appointed and ordained from all eternity. When
he would send His Son, His only begotten Son into this world.
And doesn't Paul remind us of that there in Galatians 4, for
when the fullness of the time has come? Or the language of
Holy Scripture, how wonderful it is! How definite, how precise. There we have those two definite
articles, the fullness of the time. It was that precise period
of history that was appointed from all eternity, when the fullness
of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman,
made under the law." Or the promise goes right back,
does it not, to Genesis 3 and verse 15. Why this one who comes
is the seed of the woman. in the very chapter where we
have the solemn record of the entrance of sin into the human
race, the fall of our first parents, that very chapter. And there,
in all the dismal darkness of sin, the promise of salvation,
in those words that the Lord God addresses to the serpent,
the instrument of Satan, I will put enmity between thee and the
woman, and between thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy
head, thou shalt bruise his heel. Yes, all the Lord's heel was
bruised, how he suffered, but how in all those sufferings he
is crushing Satan, vanquishing the great enemy of souls. That ancient promise, it must
be fulfilled, and so it was. The eternal Son was given. All
the Eternal Son always was, but when the fullness of the
time was come, a child was born. Unto us a child is born, it says. Unto us a son is given. There's a difference there, isn't
there? He was a son before he was the child born. God the Father gave His Son. And how did He give His Son?
In the birth of that child. The Lord Himself shall give you
a sign, says the prophet Isaiah, Behold, a virgin shall conceive,
and shall bear a son, and they shall call His name Immanuel.
And again we see those words of Isaiah 7.14 are also fulfilled
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at the end of Matthew chapter
1. We have the genealogy of Christ.
And then we have the birth of Christ. It was on this wise.
And then we're told all this was done that it might be fulfilled
which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold,
the virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son,
and they shall call his name Immanuel, which being interpreted
is God with us." God with us. Is that that he's spoken of then
here in the text, the historic fulfillment of the prophecy,
the promise of God, it must all be fulfilled and so it was fulfilled.
And can we not say with the Apostle Paul, thanks be unto God for
his unspeakable gift. All the unspeakable gift that
God did not withhold his Son, even his only begotten Son. And what a mystery! Is it not
a wonder to contemplate the mystery of it? The mystery of the Incarnation? The miracle of a virgin with
child? How He is preserved there from
every taint of sin? The question is put in the book
of Job. How can He be clean that He is
born of a woman? Oh, remember the woman was first
in the transgression. How can He be clean that He is
born of a woman? We are all descended from Him.
As well as from Adam. Who can bring a clean thing out
of a non-clean? And yet, the Lord Jesus Christ
comes and He is the seed of the woman. He is the seed of the
woman. He has no human father. But he has a human mother. What was conceived there was
conceived in her womb. She carried him. He goes through
all the pangs of childbirth to bring forth his wife. She's very
much his mother. He is the seed of the woman and
yet by the Holy Ghost there in the womb of a sinful woman. She was a virgin, yes, but she
was a sinner. Like us all, she sinned in Adam
and Eve. Like us all, she was sinless
in her life. We deny all the wicked mereolatry
of the Romish Church. But we have a great regard for
that woman. Blessed art thou among women,
it says. She is a blessed woman, though
a sinful woman, who rejoices in God her Saviour as we see
in the Magnificat. But how the Holy Ghost, you see,
is the one who so overshadows Mary's womb. The Holy Ghost shall
come upon thee, the power of the Highest shall overshadow
thee. therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of
thee shall be called the Son of God and so he comes forth
and he's a sinless one he's a sinless man this one who is born at Bethlehem
in Judah the very place where David came from but he's a sinless
man and yet he's a real man Some say, you see, to err is
human. But that's not true, is it, really?
If we use plain language, we might say, instead of to err,
to sin is human. To sin is not human. When God
created Adam and Eve, they were sinless. To sin is human in the sense
that it's the evidence that we are fallen creatures. We're not
what we were. When God created man, he was
made upright. But they've sought out many inventions.
The Lord Jesus Christ, though sinless, is a real man. But this
is a real man who delights to identify himself with sinners. Even as he comes into this world,
this sinless one, we read of God sending his own son in the
likeness of sinful flesh and for sin. He's in the likeness,
that's what it says, the likeness of sinful flesh. He identifies
with man as a sinner. Oh, we're told we have not had
high priests which cannot be touched with the feeling of our
infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without
seeing. He certainly knows our human
frailties. He knew what it was to be thirsty,
to be hungry. Why, at the temptations we are
told afterward, he was unhungered. Upon the cross he cries out,
I thirst. He is weary in journeying. He
sits at the well at Syca there in John chapter 4. He knows sinless
infirmities, but he is that one who is without sin. But how this
one comes where the sinner is. Oh, this man receiveth sinners
and eateth with them. I came not to call the righteous,
he says, but sinners unto repentance. Sinners are high in his esteem
and sinners highly value him. Oh, are we those sinners who
value him, who delight in him. We love to hear of him. Oh, we
love to contemplate the wonder of his person. We love to think
of that great work that he accomplished here upon the earth. It's our
delight. We love to sing his praises.
Here we see him then, as that one who is born, and born to
be the ruler in Israel. Thou get him Ephratah, though
thou be little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of thee shall
he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel, whose
goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting." How does
he rule? Well, the Lord shall send the
rod of thy strength out of Zion, it says. Rule thou in the midst
of thine enemies. And that's what we see in this
chapter. I spoke a little of the historical context, as it
were, the days of Hezekiah, how the Assyrians are frustrated
in their wicked designs, how Sennacherib is taken by the nose
and led back where he came from. It was later, of course, under
the Babylonians that Jerusalem did fall. God's judgments did
come, but they came as God has appointed. Not as the Assyrians
might have thought. Well, we've spoken of that. But ultimately it is the Lord
Jesus Christ who is there ruling in the midst of his enemies.
Who are we those who can say that Christ's enemies are our
enemies? And what are those enemies? Well, Satan. Or that great adversary. That wicked foe. And the world,
the world lies in the wicked one. The world, the flesh, ourselves,
our old natures. Oh, aren't these our enemies?
Oh, wretched man that I am, Christ Paul, who shall deliver me from
the body of this death. I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord. He is the deliverer. He is that
one who is able to subdue all our iniquities. Or do we so feel
the horror of our sin we want the Lord Jesus Christ to vanquish
sin in us, to overcome us? Look at how we read of Him there
in Micah's contemporary in the book of the prophet Isaiah, and
there in chapter 14. and verse 10. I want to close
with these words really. Look at what he says. Fear thou
not. That's 41. Let me turn to chapter
40. Chapter 40, verse 10. Behold!
Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hands and His arms
shall rule for Him. Behold, His reward is with Him. and his work before him. He shall
feed his flock like a shepherd. He shall gather the lambs with
his arm and carry them in his bosom and shall gently lead those
that are with young." Oh yes, he rules in the midst of his
enemies, but here what we have is something quite different.
It's that gracious ruling that we witness in the way in which
he cares for those who are his own. those whom He has redeemed
with His precious blood. His arm rules for Him. His reward
is with Him, His work before Him. He feeds His flock like
a shepherd, it says. He shall gather the lambs with
His arm and carry them in His bosom and gently lead those that
are with young. It's interesting where we have
the fulfillment of our text as it's recorded in Matthew chapter
2. As I was reading it just earlier
in a public reading I noticed in the margin what it says there
in that sixth verse. Thou Bethlehem in the land of
Judah art not the least among the princes of Judah for out
of thee shall come a governor that shall rule, the margin says
feed, that shall feed my people Israel. How does He feed Israel? How does He feed His people?
How does He feed us? If we are those who are truly
the people of God, He feeds us with Himself. That's the amazing
thing. We eat His flesh, we drink His blood. in a spiritual sense,
is meat and drink. Oh, the Christ of this time might
truly be that to us that we might delight in all that He is. This
One whose goings forth have been, from of old, from everlasting,
from the days of eternity, the Eternal Son of God, and yes,
also that One who is truly the Son of Man, who comes in the
fullness of the time, that once spoken of here then
in prophecy, and then the fulfilment in the Gospel. Thou, Bethlehem
Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah,
yet out of thee shall he come forth unto Mary, that is to be
ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been from of old,
from everlasting. Amen.